Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

14 reviews

nicholasbobbitt1997's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fantastic rendering of the Norse myths. Eminently readable, broke me out of a months-long reading slump. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Medical trauma, Gore, Death, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Animal death, Violence, Sexual content, Murder, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Excrement

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I went into this book with the assumption that it is at least somewhat accurate to the myths, and while there are elements that are, this is very much a Christianised Loki-Bad-Odin-Good portrayal of those myths.

Taken in isolation, it is as well written and mildly comical as Gaiman's other works, but within the context of it being a retelling of the Norse myths, it just missed the mark on so many points for me.

As example:

the legions of Hel are described as being "the evil dead", which to my knowledge is not only a Christian concept, but also unjust. Those dead are simply people that didn't die in battle, so while there will be "evil" among them, they're not intrinsically so. Such phrasing also implies that Odin's warriors are equivalent to the angels of Christianity, something made ironic when you realise it's possible for "evil" people to die in battle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Torture, Alcohol, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Bullying, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Murder, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, War, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, and Blood

peachani's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Suicide, Genocide, Ableism, and War

kaaaaaaaa's review

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Infidelity, Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, War, Grief, Excrement, Child death, Animal death, Alcohol, Ableism, and Confinement

valpuri's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Animal cruelty, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Ableism

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this retelling of Norse Mythology. The beginning was a bit slow and dense for me but it picked up very quickly, and I can't believe how fast I devoured it! Neil Gaiman's narration definitely made it ten times more enjoyable than if I had read it as a text. Pleaae read the content warnings before reading/listening if you are sensitive to descriptions of torture and gore, they are behind the spoiler tag.

CW: eye trauma, intestines/entrail, genital mutilation/torture, graphic descriptions of death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Excrement, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Sexual content

brittni_in_ink's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

Neil Gaiman uses his incredible storytelling to breathe new life into the Norse pantheon. The short stories that feed into the grand narrative of Creation to Ragnarök are expertly chosen and crafted to bring the reader right into the deceivingly sparse and simple language, echoing the oral tradition that kept these stories alive. The style is reminiscent of someone speaking aloud, perhaps in a great hall or around a campfire, telling these stories to whoever will listen. The important details are introduced, repeated, and we get to know the gods and all their flaws in the cycle of time that always ends and begins again in Ragnarök. The book is a fairly quick read, full of humor and strangeness, revenge and envy and marriage and love. I enjoyed it and learned a lot reading it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Violence, War, Alcohol, and Confinement

triforcefusion's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I found that Neil Gaiman is a fantastic narrator. He gave such a good characterization to Thor in the way he spoke. The stories varied wildly from snappy, and fun to long and dull. There is also a barrier to entry if you are unfamiliar with Norse words. Sometimes there were so many Norse names that I couldn't remember who was who. 

I feel like Neil did a good job presenting these myths, but the quality of stories definitely fluctuated. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Confinement, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Gore, and Murder

ravensandlace's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Title: Norse Mythology

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Historical Fiction Fantasy

Format: paperback book from the library

Star Rating: 4 stars

tw: death, murder, bodily harm, suicide, bestiality, violence, drowning, torture

One of my goals in life is to learn more about different mythologies, besides all the basic ones. I’ve been interested in Norse mythology since I watched Apsolov: End of Gods and Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn. Both are very cool horror games relating to Norse mythology and I suggest checking out John Wolfe’s playthrough of them both. 

Anyway. What an exciting book! The Norse gods are pretty interesting, including Loki. He’s one of my favorite gods. Even though this book was pretty short, I felt like all the gods were pretty fleshed out. They got almost equal amounts of page time. I just learned so much. I could tell a lot of research went into this book. It felt like I was reading the bible but better. I am not sorry for that comment at all. 

I wish Marvel had followed this book and actual Norse mythology. The movies would have been way better, in my opinion. Plus they would have gotten their information right especially with Loki and Hel (another one of my favorite gods). Plus, I think that this is way more interesting than what they did. Sure, I liked the Thor movies but I felt like they could have been way better.

Overall, the buzz about this book and this author were spot on. I’ve heard the author is just a sweetheart online and is so nice to fans. I had such a blast reading this book. I will be sure to check out more of Neil Gaiman’s work since this one was such a hit for me. As for my recommendations, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Norse mythology. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Grief, Gore, and Violence

yrlaevelyn's review

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Animal death, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Kidnapping, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Grief, Slavery, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicide